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Amadeus Capital Partners is considering making direct investments in companies in China, a move that industry figures said would make it the one of the first European venture capital firms to invest directly into the region.

Amadeus, which was founded in 1997 and counts Solexa – a gene sequencing company acquired by Nasdaq-listed Illumina in 2007 for $600m – among its successes, will include a facility in its next generation of funds to make direct investments into start-up businesses operating in the country.

Hermann Hauser, the firm’s co-founder, said at the sidelines of this week's Silicon Dragon conference in London: “We will have the facility to invest directly into Chinese companies, but things need to settle down a bit first. There is a nascent venture capital community in China, but these communities take time to mature and find their way of doing things.”

Hauser said the firm will invest in the sectors it knows and understands, such as information and communications technology, mobile, medical technology and clean technology.

The process to obtain approvals from the various government bodies to complete a direct investment in China can be lengthy, according to a report by the British Venture Capital Association. Approval from various regulatory bodies – including the State Administration of Foreign Exchange and the Ministry of Commerce – is needed to complete a deal, while exiting investments can also be difficult due to the restrictions imposed on initial public offerings, the report said.

Adam Cooke, a partner at corporate law firm DLA Piper, said: “Entering a market like China on a direct level is tricky, from finding the right partner to navigating the minefield of regulations and building relationships with the relevant officials.

“Because it’s a command economy and everything is so highly regulated, it’s very bureaucratic by European standards. It’s important to understand that regime, and if you’re coming from Europe, you might not appreciate how complicated it is.”

While a number of prominent US venture capital firms have established an on-the-ground presence in China or through partnerships – such as Accel and IDG Ventures – investors say that there are no major European venture capital firms as yet that have made the push into China.

Francesco di Valmarana, a partner in private equity investor Pantheon’s London office, said: “It is a rarity. A firm would need to find a co-investor who’s present on the ground and has relationships, because it’s unlikely that you’re going to have those in the beginning.”

“There aren’t too many firms that have built a successful franchise around investing in start-up companies at a distance and in a different culture. They’re tapping into a higher-growth market than Europe and the US, so you have to balance that against the amount of risk they’re taking and how they’re going to do it. It really comes down to execution.”

European venture capitalists that have made the push into the region disagree. Alexander Trewby, a former vice-president focused on technology at investment bank Morgan Stanley and co-founder of New York, Hong Kong and London-based Enterproid, said the timing for such a move is perfect.

He said: “From an investment standpoint now’s the time. You’re seeing the shift in power, the growth and the plateauing of the West. The second headquarters of the investment banks used to be London – It’s now moving to Asia. Intellectual Property is becoming more stabilised and China is domineering and becoming more and more relevant.”